Jun 14, 2018; Costa Mesa, CA, USA; Los Angeles Chargers safety Derwin James (33) during minicamp at the Hoag Performance Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Los Angeles Chargers
- Pass Game Supporting Cast – Tier 1
- Overall Team Supporting Cast – Tier 3
[Editor’s note: The Supporting Cast metrics measure performance of players other than the quarterback, utilizing PFF grades and clustering analysis to group them into tiers from best (Tier 1) to worst (Tier 4). Passing Game Supporting Cast is indicative of supporting players contributing more to passing stats while Overall Team Supporting Cast includes other portions of team performance as well. For more information on support cast rankings, listen in weekly to the PFF Forecast podcast.]
The Los Angeles Chargers finished the 2017 season with a record of 9-7, which was good enough to place them second in the AFC West, but just missing the playoffs. This year, they are looking to add to that strong 2017 campaign and win a division in which there appears to be no clear front-runner. While this team may have been relatively quiet during their free agency period, they still managed to nab a game-changer in the 2018 NFL Draft in Derwin James and while most of the attention on the Chargers surrounds Joey Bosa and their defensive front, that attention should be focused on this team’s secondary.
Derwin James and the secondary
The first thing that needs to be established is this Chargers secondary has the potential to be one of the most dominant secondaries in the NFL. The cornerbacks alone are enough to give opposing quarterbacks nightmares, featuring players like Casey Hayward, Desmond King and Jason Verrett. Hayward enters the season as our No. 1 cornerback in the league finishing with an overall grade of 96.4. King was another shutdown corner for this team a year ago, as last season he graded out at 86.5, which made him the 13th best cornerback in the league. If Verrett can come back from his injury and regain his previous 2015 form when he was one of the league’s best up-and-coming defensive backs, this group is going to behard for opposing quarterbacks to pass on.
On the backend, a season ago,…
